The Dark Crystal
"The rules are simple," said Cinch, her voice carrying across the school's front lawn. "Incapacitate the opposition by any means at your disposal, but do not kill. The dead cannot recognize that they are defeated."
Sunset groaned, and even she wasn't sure how much was pain and how much disgust. "Does she even hear herself?"
"I think she does," said Twilight. "That's what scares me."
"I really hope I wasn't this deluded during the Fall Formal. I know I was, but I can hope."
"Sunset, we have bigger problems than your embarrassing past. PE at Crystal Prep isn't random sporting events, it's combat training. We have a bunch of high schoolers going up against a paramilitary force that just happens to be in their teens."
Sunset looked at the group gathered beneath Cinch, organized in neat ranks. "That does explain the lockstep. I figured that was mind control."
"Those of you who made it onto the Friendship Games team have been permitted a greater deal of autonomy," said Cinch, who'd been going on the whole time about rightful destiny and the will to power. "Do not make me regret giving it to you."
"Okay, so it's both."
"Nope!" Sour Sweet clutched her head, her expression flickering back and forth among fear, fury, and a rictus grin. "Nope nope nope nope nope." She streaked away.
Twilight tracked her progress. "Well, looks like some people can—"
Sour swooped back, grabbed one unremarkable-looking boy out of the formation, and flew off again, chanting "Nope" all the while. The moment thoroughly ruined, Wondercolts started fleeing from the assembled army.
"Some people can resist. That's good."
"Yeah," said a frowning Sunset. "The question is how many will want to?"
It was at that point that the maze of shadows formed around them.
Rarity looked around. She had a hunch about what she needed to do. Based on past experience, she needed to join up with her friends, whereupon rainbows would ensue. However, Principal Cinch's literal outburst had scattered them about the front lawn, the milling student bodies had obscured them from her sight, and now walls of roiling smoke formed a narrow corridor around her. Despite its nebulous appearance, it proved as solid as a brick wall when Rarity poked it. "Well, isn't this just dandy?" she grumbled.
"I would agree."
Rarity turned to face the speaker. She recognized the young man from the first round of the games, though the smoke pouring from his eyes was definitely new, and it did him no favors given his dark blue complexion. "I do beg your pardon, sir, but I'm afraid I never got your name."
He shook with either fury or unvoiced mirth; Rarity could not tell which. He took a step forward and extended his hand. "My name is Royal Pin."
"A pleasure, despite the circumstances." Rarity extended her own and hazarded a smile. "I am Rari—"
Another step. A flourish of Royal's hand and a light from his headgem produced a thin line of energy in his palm which he grasped like a sword. "Vice captain of the Crystal Prep fencing team."
Rarity flinched back. "I do hope you aren't intimating—"
"Enguarde."
"Oh dear."
Fluttershy looked around frantically. She didn't know where anyone was, herself included. She couldn't even try getting a bird's eye view; the smoke formed a ceiling at about fifteen feet that admitted only a little wan light. "Hello?"
A sudden weight brought her toppling to the ground. She felt someone sitting on her waist as an arm pressed against her throat, forcing her back to arch painfully. A hand seized her neck fluff and pulled. Her scream gurgled out of her compressed trachea.
"I remember you," a feminine voice snarled in her ear. "You helped the pink bitch show me up in home ec. Think you're so amazing, don't you? So pretty, so creative, oh so sweet. We'll see how cute you are when I'm through with yarrgh!"
The pressure slackened. The weight left. Applejack helped her to her feet. "Suri always did fight dirty. Reminds me o' middle school. You okay, Shy?"
Fluttershy looked at her assailant, now unconscious. Rarity had told her a lot about Suri Polomare, but even after getting tackled by the girl, she couldn't help but feel a twinge of pity for her. "She must hate herself so much."
"She ain't th' only one. How you doin'?"
"I'll be fine." Fluttershy looked around and folded into herself as she realized that the dark, spooky labyrinth full of brainwashed Shadowbolts hadn't gotten any less dark or spooky, and had only marginally fewer active Shadowbolts in it. "I think."
"Let's meet up with th' others. Sunset an' Twi are over that way."
Fluttershy followed Applejack's finger. It was pointing directly at one of the walls. "How can you tell?"
Applejack gave her a confused look. "How come you can't? This stuff may be thick as Granny's biscuit dough, but it's see-through."
"It isn't for me."
"Huh. How 'bout that? Can ya see the girl makin' all of it?" Applejack pointed in another direction.
Fluttershy shook her head. "Sorry."
"Ain't your fault." Applejack pulled up her sleeves and started heading for where she said the source lay. "All it means is this might take a little time."
Moondancer shuddered, curled in the fetal position and struggling for sanity. Her eyes burned even as they were clenched shut. Her mind, the one thing she could take pride in, her one worthwhile attribute, was not her own. She could feel some external force gnawing away at her objectivity, her rationality, her control. It whispered to her, and she dared not answer back. This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening. If she thought it hard enough, maybe it would stop happening.
Sure, it was magical thinking, but Moondancer was magical now, wasn't she?
The moment of flawed reasoning only made her curl in on herself more. And the pearly, moon-pale shield bubble she'd formed around herself began to darken. Strangely, the tinge of black was always on the shield's right edge, no matter the angle at which someone might look at it.
Sugarcoat wasn't sure what was going on. That had been a defining undercurrent in her life ever since the world changed, but it was applied now more than ever. Ever since Principal Cinch had exploded, all she could see was swirling smoke against a backdrop of purest night.
Embrace the darkness. The words flitted through her brain, less a sound than a cold, slimy sensation rubbing against her auditory cortex.
She narrowed her eyes. "Why?"
In darkness, there is power.
"There's power elsewhere. What makes you so special?"
You won't need to rely on weaklings and fools.
Sugarcoat crossed her arms. "What if I want friends?"
A few seconds passed before the reply came. You won't need them.
"There's a difference between need and want. What if I want them?"
Further delay. They fear and hate the dark.
"Which I haven't accepted yet."
Shut up and embrace the darkness!
Sugarcoat shuddered, the soundless shout feeling like the worst case of brain freeze she'd ever had. But when she recovered, she scowled more than ever. "No. Your whole stance is a circular argument."
Your mother's a circular argument!
"And with that, I win." The smoke cleared, unveiling the much more disturbing sight of Sugarcoat's classmates apparently performing mop-up operations on the Wondercolts in a maze of translucent smoke.
There was really only one rational response. "What."
"I tried."
Sugarcoat turned to face the sound. "Lemon Zest?"
Lemon stood with arms and neck limp, like a puppet with half her strings cut. Purple vapor trailed up from her downcast eyes. "I tried, Sugar."
"Lemon, you can fight this." Sugarcoat grabbed the other girl's arms. "It's an empty promise. You really can just say no."
The morose babble continued unabated. "I tried to keep them sane. I tried reasoning with them. But I might as well have been arguing politics on the Internet for all the good it did. Besides, we both know me. I'm not the reasonable one." Lemon's head, still hung low, slowly tilted to face Sugarcoat. Her hair obscured her eyes, but left the disturbingly wide smile plain to see. "You know what I'm gonna do now?"
Sugarcoat swallowed and took a step back, releasing the other girl. "I'm honestly afraid to ask."
"I'm gonna start beating sense into some motherfuckers!" Lemon delivered a haymaker to an underclassman who had the misfortune of being in reach. "Come at me, jackhats!"
Sugarcoat watched her race off. "Well. So much for her doing anything constructive."
"Help!"
Sugarcoat turned to see some cringing Canterlotters backing away from a few students she recognized from literature class. She cracked her neck. "On the other hand, that may not be an entirely terrible idea."
Abacus Cinch looked down on her works and saw that they were good. Her students were controlling the environment, leaving the opposition stumbling blindly in a fog that fooled only them. She, in turn, controlling her students. By her unspoken command, her loyal, obedient pupils did what was best. All was as it should have been from the start.
"Abacus, please! You're better than this!"
Cinch spared a glance for the pink annoyance hovering next to her. "Better than what, Dean Cadence? Better than looking after my school's reputation? Better than ensuring the victory we so richly deserve?" Her lips pulled up into the thinnest of smiles. "I can think of nothing better than that."
"I can!" Lemon Zest shouted from below. "TORSO FLAIL!"
Cinch drifted a bit to the side, letting the screaming underclassman miss her. Cadence caught him and set him down on the lawn, outside of the main action. To Cinch's satisfaction, he started to march back into the fray as soon as he got back on his feet. She turned to the aggressor and permitted herself a bit of theatricality, pointing and saying, "Subdue her."
"Up yours, Auntie!" cried Lemon Zest, even as she defended herself. "Up yours sideways and mind the cobwebs!"
"Abacus," said Cadence, "you're betraying every principle you have with this."
Cinch held back a snort. "Even if that were the case, as I've been reminded time and time again, this is a new world. Reinventing myself is only appropriate."
"But—"
"Cadenza, you are an... adequate dean of students, but do not think that makes you irreplaceable. I have several candidates in reserve who will leap at the chance to have your position."
Cadence actually glared at her. "The school board will be very interested to hear about all of this."
"Ah. And here I thought you'd just spout platitudes at me. You will find that the school board has yet to come to any conclusions regarding magic." Cinch smirked. "Who knows? I may be pioneering the disciplinary techniques that today's youth so desperately need. Now, to put it bluntly, sit down, shut up, and fly right. If you don't, I have plenty who will."
The dean scowled, but said nothing more. Cinch found herself slightly disappointed, but turned her attention back to more important matters.
Applejack trudged through the maze of shadows. Her goal was in sight and had been from the moment she'd started, but to get there, she kept having to wade through the almost gooey smoke.
"You there! Farm girl!"
Applejack turned and glared. Trixie walked up to her, covering a fair chunk of her progress in a few steps. After a stretch of angry silence, Trixie rolled her eyes and said, "Applejack. You seem to be handling this far better than most."
After a moment, Applejack nodded. "My eyes ain't fooled, but it seems like the rest o' me is."
Trixie gave a grim nod as she looked around. "Whoever's doing this is a very good illusionist. Their creations have become quasi-real."
"In Wranglish?"
"It doesn't matter if you're fooled or not. She's managed to convince reality itself that this all exists." Trixie's face twisted like she'd just chugged a pint of lemon juice. "Want help?"
Applejack quirked an eyebrow. "Really?"
"You can see through the illusions. I can just get rid of them." Trixie waved a hand, palm and forehead glowing with power. Some of the smoke dissolved into nothing.
Applejack stared at the other girl for a few moments. "You just said 'I'."
Trixie sighed. "It's called a stage persona, Applejack. Believe it or not, even I know when it's time to drop the act for a while. Do you want my help or not?"
"Right now, I'll take whatever I can get."
"Gee, thanks." Trixie's headgem lit up, and a circular arch formed in the next smoky wall. The two moved forward side by side.
"My, my, my. This is a fine mess you've gotten them in, isn't it?"
Cinch's gaze snapped to the source of the voice. "What are you doing here? You never come to these."
Mr. Discord smiled, lying on nothing with his chin in his hands. "I did say that I'd come if it got sufficiently interesting. And wouldn't you know it, it did!" He rolled over, his smile widening. "I must say, Abacus, you haven't looked this beautiful since our wedding. Though that's probably the avatar of Chaos and Disharmony talking."
"You insufferable little—"
"Such flattery! And in front of dear Cadenza, no less. Be careful; she might just try to mend our sundered bond."
Cadence drifted away from both of them. "Leave me out of this, Uncle John."
"Oh, what fun would that be? Why, who knows? You could be just what our marriage needs!"
Cinch gritted her teeth and lunged at her ex-husband. He squished like gelatin between her fingers, his smile never shifting. "It's shameless, the way we flirt."
Brawly Beats was a simple young man. When he was hungry, he ate. When he was playing, he kept the beat. When he was threatened, he fought back. Though the guy he was fighting was annoyingly slippery. "Hold still, you little—" He took another swing rather than finish the sentence.
His opponent just leaned back. He hadn't even taken his hands out of his pockets. "What, and let you get away with that atrocious form?"
"Your form's gonna be atrocious by the time I'm through with you!"
"Hmm. That was actually a halfway decent threat. At this rate, you'd be almost competent by the end of the month. A pity." The other boy lunged forward.
Brawly wasn't entirely sure what happened. Everything went very fast, and then he was flat on his back. The last thing he heard before the darkness closed around him was "And that's one for Trenderhoof."
Trenderhoof smirked as the darkness wrapped around the brute. It was nice to see a few of them fight back, but they clearly weren't prepared for any kind of real combat. All of their moves were clumsy, not just telegraphed, but broadcasted. He dusted off his hands and looked for someone else to—
Celestia sighed as she watched the boy slump unconscious. "I can't believe we're neutralizing teenagers."
Luna smirked with the pride of a sleep spell well done. "Don't pretend that this isn't tremendously cathartic."
"Of course it is. That doesn't mean I have to like it."
"At least the surroundings keep the students from seeing how quickly we can do this."
Celestia gave a grudging nod. "There is that."
Sunny Flare stood upon her manifested power. She was a Prospero with no reason to break her staff or drown her grimoire. She was a Geballte Faust who had made a request Mephistopheles couldn't twist. She was Buck, toying with foolish mortals. Dramaturge, thaumaturge, demiurge. All the world was her stage, and from the shadow maze to the waning crescent moon in one corner, proper lighting and blocking were key parts of her set design.
But some Wonderbolts had gone off-script. This was supposed to be the triumphant resurgence of the heroic team after a fleeting but concerning possibility of failure. All this struggle had no place in her plot. Certainly not what in some cases could only be classified as heroic retaliation.
"Fly free on endless seas, the final curtain falls/On the ground from down below, the time to lock and to load!"
Definitely not a comic relief character fighting for the antagonists while singing Dragontorque.
Someone tapped Sunny on her shoulder. She turned, wide-eyed. "What are you doing backstage?"
"It's the final—" Trixie scowled as Sunny hit the shadowy ground. "After all the work I put into carving a staircase up this wizard's tower of hers, you could've at least let me finish the one-liner."
Applejack shook out her hand. "Nah."
Despite having most of his will and individuality suppressed by Cinch's power, the freshman still screamed.
Lemon interrupted her singing to shout at her improvised weapon. "Stop flailing! You're only going to break your own limbs!"
The screaming continued.
"Whatevs." She pulled back for another swing.
Her would-be target held up his hands and backed out of range. "Whoa! Whoa! Wondercolt!"
Lemon blinked and managed to halt her own flailing arms. "Sorry, dude. Tryin' to ride the berserker rage without succumbing to the Dark Side. Fine balance, you know?"
"Well, I have been mind controlled twice in the last year, so... kind of?"
"Cool story, bro." Lemon spun and delivered a golf swing into the belly of a Shadowbolt girl trying to sneak up on her. "What was that weaksauce, Melon? I've seen zombies with more coordination!"
The boy looked around. "Now that you mention, they do seem kind of aimless." A cluster of nearby Shadowbolts had lost their tight formation, standing slack and staring blankly.
"Huh. Wonder what—"
"DIE, YOU BASTARD!"
"Cara mia."
The boy looked up, his face a vision of perplexity. "Mr. Discord?"
"He's Aunt Abby's ex," said Lemon. "I think he's distracting them. Now's your chance." The shadows dissolved. She nodded to herself. "Now's definitely your chance."
The boy spread his wings, rose up, and cried, "Wondercolts! To arms!"
For a moment, everyone stared at him. Then the Canterlot students cheered and regrouped, most of the Shadowbolts slow to react.
"That was incredibly dorky," said a nearby Sugarcoat, holding another Shadowbolt in a headlock.
The boy shrugged. "It was the first thing that came to mind."
"And it looks like it's working." Lemon watched a grey girl pop out of nowhere and clonk Upper Crust and Jet Set's heads together. Their elaborate sedan chair, crewed by humanoid constructs that looked more like fertility idols and inverted pyramids with legs, vanished with their concentration.
Lemon grinned so much, her face started to hurt. She hefted her underclassman. "This is gonna be fun. What's your name, anyway?"
"Flash Sentry," said the boy.
"Bonbon, you wanna hurry?" Lyra winced against the feedback of the two struggling Shadowbolts she held in enormous, golden hands. "I can't hold these guys forever."
"It takes longer for some people. At least this one isn't a donkey aspect." Bonbon breathed a sigh of relief as the boy slumped. "Next."
Lyra floated another into position, releasing her construct a moment before Bonbon grabbed him. "Where'd you learn how to do a sleeper hold, anyway?"
"My dad taught me."
"Where'd he learn it?"
"That's classified."
Royal Pin and Rarity almost danced about the crowd, their blades flashing and sparking with every contact. "I see you are using Cornetto's Defense against me," said Royal. "Interesting choice, given the terrain."
"I'll be honest, sir," Rarity all but panted, "I have no idea what I'm doing."
Royal raised an eyebrow as he continued to probe her defenses. "Truly? Then you must be a fencing prodigy the likes of which I've never seen. Are you doing anything tomorrow night?"
"I would be much more receptive to your advances were you not trying to skewer me," said Rarity, smacking aside his physical advances as well.
"Nonsense! I'm not trying to hurt you, just humiliate you. After all, beautiful women are irreplaceable. Dresses, on the other hand—"
Rarity's next riposte reduced Royal's blade to quickly fading shards of magic, her eyes hard. "There's something you don't know, sir."
Royal swallowed. "And what is that?"
"I am not left-handed." Another length of force formed in Rarity's right hand. "I am ambidextrous." Several dozen more formed around her, arranged like a very pointy chrysanthemum and all pointed at Royal. "And then some."
Rainbow Dash was not having a good day. It wasn't bad enough that Indigo Zap kept slamming into her hard enough that she felt it even through the crash resistance she totally didn't need most of the time. No, Indigo also felt the need to shout how amazing she was as she did it.
Who did that?
Finally, after about the twelfth time the other girl had sung her own praises, Dash shouted, "You're nothing special, you know!"
"What!?" Indigo halted in midair, which was good. Not that Dash couldn't have dodged that charge, but still.
"You see the blonde with the lazy eye? The one who keeps popping up behind your classmates?" Dash watched as Blue Oyster tossed Ditzy into an almost triangular clump of Shadowbolts like some cross between a rocket and a bowling ball. "She can fly outside of the universe by accident. Heck, I know one girl who can go supersonic under her own power."
Zap scoffed. "Name her."
"Rainbow Dash."
"Then show me."
"Huh?" Dash blinked. "Wait, I didn't mean me. I mean, I'm working on it, but—"
Indigo sneered and pulled down her goggles. "Pathetic. You want to be impressed? Just watch me."
"But—" Dash stopped herself. The more time Indigo spent showing off, the less time she had to try to break Dash's ribs.
There wasn't much room for high-speed maneuvers above campus, so Indigo settled for flying in a tight loop, going faster and faster until a blue circle encompassed the school grounds. Her shout reverberated strangely with her orbit.
"BEHOLD A TRUE GO—!"
There was a terrible crack.
There was a terrible silence.
After a few moments with no sign of Indigo Zap or the body thereof, a dry-mouthed Rainbow Dash decided to go see if any of her friends needed help. She spotted Pinkie Pie first and swooped down. "How you doing, Pinkie?"
"Mostly taking potshots with the funderbuss." Pinkie huffed, hefting some manner of handheld party cannon.
Dash bit her lip. Pinkie Pie looking tired was one of those things that just wasn't supposed to happen. "You okay?"
"It really isn't funny right now. I have to put a lot into my gags to make them work. I mean, I've actually had to reload this thing."
"Well, the shadows are clear. We can group up and make Cinch taste the rainbow." Dash looked around and spotted a familiar bit of purple. "There's Twilight!"
Unnoticed by just about anyone, a moon the size of a person went fully black. A moment later, a milky column of energy slammed down right where Dash was pointing.
She threw her hands up. "Oh, come on!"
Twilight couldn't help but feel a sense of deja vu. Before her floated a maddened genius drunk on her own magical power, glowing eyes framed in eldritch fire that burned almost as much as the figure's own insanity and insatiable need for knowledge. A nimbus of arcane energy held the girl aloft. A dress that weeks of association with Rarity confirmed as flattering hugged her developing figure. Hairline cracks in reality itself spread around her as though from a foot gingerly pressing on thin ice.
"There but for the grace of Sunset go I," Twilight muttered.
Moondancer slowly panned her head from side to side. "Sunset Shimmer isn't here."
"Well—"
"Good.."
Twilight gasped as she felt a faint shift in the air, mostly in the tips of her pointed ears. Something had changed, beyond the obvious. Something was beginning. "Tell me she isn't—"
As music sounded from nowhere, Moondancer began to sing.
There she is, the one and only Twilight
There she stands, so far above the common human swine.
Though all my peers deplore her,
I cannot help but adore her.
And I'd tear the world apart to make her mine! Just watch!
Please say that you will be with me, Twilight.
If you don't then I'm afraid that you will force my hand.
I know that it will certain-
Ly be someone's final curtain
If by my side you will not forever stand.
Twilight, can you hear me? This is Sunset.
I hacked into the song.
You will need to listen very caref'ly.
This will not last too long.
You need to get this girl to stop singing
Any way that you can.
Like a word that can't be rhymed or—
Hey! Get lost, you hussy! Scram!
Do you think I am six?
I will not fall for your tricks.
Words from sporange to chilver,
I'll throw them in the mix.
Oh Twilight, don't you see?
You're the only one for me.
So accept that
We were meant to be...
I'm not into you!
That cannot be true!
Can't we just be friends?
My love never ends!
There is more to life!
It will meet my knife!
But what about Sugarcooooat?
Sugarcoat glowered up at Moondancer. "Yeah," she said in a decidedly non-lyrical fashion. "What about me?"
Moondancer looked back and forth between Twilight, Sugarcoat, and the hovering Dean Cadence who'd posed the question. The music struggled for a few notes without her, but petered to a halt. "I... I..." She drifted to the ground, trailing more splintered existence as she went. She started to weep.
After a moment and a meaningful look from the dean, Sugarcoat knelt and stiffly wrapped her arms around the other girl.
"Twilight!" Twilight looked away from the scene to see her friends gathering around her.
"Everybody here?" said Applejack.
Dash looked around. "I don't see Sunset. Can we do the awesome rainbow thing without her?"
I'm here.
The others looked around. The voice had sounded in their heads without any clear source. "Sunset?" said Rarity. "Are you alright?"
Fine. Sort of. A tiny unicorn poked her head out of Twilight's blouse pocket and saw a blend of adoring eyes and restrained laughter.
"I figured it would lower her energy expediture," said Twilight. "Now let's hurry up; I don't know how much longer Mr. Discord can keep Principal Cinch occupied."
"Probably for the rest of the day," said Fluttershy, "but you're right."
Seven friends came together, united in purpose. The world bowed to its mistresses.
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Keep updating!!!!!
Geez, this universe gets stranger and stranger.
I like it!
Fuckin score 1 for Cadence and Matchmaking saving the day
I wonder where Indigo sent herself? Did she pull a Doc. Brown? And I'm sure Cinch just invalidated the games with the mass mind control. My favorate part is the fact Sugercoat just no-selled the mind control through logic. Now there's just the matter of the aftermath.
Looks like 2nd's going to be fine then.
I guess the issue with mind controlling Sour is which mind you happen to get control of.
Oh geez that was all just amazing.
Rarity's part was probably my favorite.
Gunnery Training Yes, or No? Force Bolt Sniping... is bad...
Rarity's Part is Awesome! I guess she wasn't too tired if she was able to do all that... Or is the panting just 'cause she's not practiced at speaking while under exertion or something?
...
Oh! Senpai Notice Me! ... Do you play, or just know the song? ... Bit hard for me to map the lyrics onto their originals... But I sort of see...
Is that ref to https://www.fimfiction.net/story/280223/oops-im-equine-again?
Typos:
Lemon is a homestuck confirmed?
I also really appreciate the waning moon symbolism of Moondancer's shield
I love Dragonforce
I honestly misread this as "Bonbon, you wanna marry?" for a second
The Princess Bride bit. And the song bit. And Trixie... Okay, this chapter was bloody amazing
Did...did Rarity throw in a Princess Bride reference?
Sugarcoat, you do not fail to disappoint.
Neither does Lemon Zest, for that matter. She was never going to be able to keep people sane, she has no baseline. Much better to just go beserk.
Heh, tiny unicorn goddess. She should stay that way for a bit.
I reeeealy wanted Pinkie to say
"I FIND... NO JOY... IN THIS!!!!"
I thought Lemon Zest was female.
A very delightful explosion of pop culture references and character comedy, and also sudden explosion.
8035303
I SeE We hAvE AnOtHeR HoMeStUcK FaN In aRe mIsTeD
Honk :o)
8036269 That was some guy Lemon threw.
8036269 Lemon Zest is throwing underclassmen.
Cracked up at this. I don't know why. I just did.
The song bit at the end was epic and nicely done. Can't wait for the epilogue!
See? Rarity gets it! Why even use less than a dozen blades when you have Telekinesis!
Also Sugarcoat continues to be best human.
Talk about scenes of insanity.
This is going to end up a horrible mess. Indigo is likely dead - mashed into a monoatomic film by Old Man Relativity for daring to get too close to lightspeed, Sunny will probably be in traction for months after being knocked off her tower and Lemon has probably beaten several of her classmates into comas. Royal Pin will probably live but that won't fix the webwork of scars that Rarity's psi-blades probably caused before he was subdued.
Even those not physically hurt will be traumatised for life. I'm hoping that, at the very least, Sugarcoat will help Moon Dancer heal a little faster.
Cinch will likely end up with her magic permanently restrained and in a lunatic asylum (with Discord regularly visiting to keep her hallucinating, hysterical and raving) but that won't fix all the children that her ambition, narcissism and hatred have scarred or even killed.
8034923
Glad to hear it.
8034941
Love, like life, always finds a way.
8035009
Sour Sweet is intimately familiar with her own thought processes and has a deep-seated fear of going truly mad. Trying to mind control her is like trying to subdue a cat by throwing a bucket of water on it.
8035104
No firearms (or fireheads) training at Crystal Prep. No one involved thought putting a firing range in a high school would be a good idea, especially not one with such a cutthroat social environment.
Threatening Rarity's outfit is the fastest way to give her a second wind.
Yandere Moondancer has been part of the plan since I started outlining the story.
And I'm not aware of any intentional references to Oops! I'm Equine Again, though it's possible that there were some subconscious inclusions.
8035303
The waning moon barrier almost didn't make it in; I forgot to include it until the final revision.
Also, I'll answer your question with a Lemon Zest line from Sugarcatharsis:
8035523
In the current circumstances, she might have said yes.
8036017
"Maybe I can make myself too cute to worship."
"Hail the Glorious Proclaimer!"
"Right. Baconists. Never mind."
8036068
I feel like I'm missing a reference.
8040154
Good thing the Humane Seven set off a massive burst of restorative magic at the end, huh?
8041721 Fairly oddparents christmas every day episode, other holiday icons fight santa.
I'm sure there's a better joke to be made there, but that's the best one I could think of.
How do you even fit so much cleverness into one chapter?
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Given who the Dark Crystal is, I just had more questions!
I was thinking it was her, but then I thought it might have been Moondancer instead.
Is Abacus Cinch a Crystal Prep Alumnus?
Well, this is better placed on Unfriendly Competition, but I'm here... And I could delete, duplicate on UC, and then you respond there or something...Screw it.
... Actually, where did Discord go to school, in his teens? We know Celestia and Luna went to Canterlot High, 'cause they had the Everfree Fieldtrip-thing, and presumably Cadence as well...
So, Faust has 3 kids? Celly, Luna, and Cadence?
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All I'll say at the moment is that Cadence is actually Discord's grand-niece.
Loved the action sequence/montage. Discord picked the perfect time to show up. My favorite parts were Trixie and AJ's team up and Rarity's Princess Bride reference.
Huh. There's only an epilogue left? It feels like it could keep going for a few more chapters. Oh well, we'll see how this plays out.
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That, or kicked out of the universe and handed over to some nice Pony Therapists until she learns that creating an environment that generates Dark Magic for the sake of ultimately meaningless pride is a Bad Thing.... yea, we won't be seeing her again...
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By asking myself, "Okay, what is everyone doing?" I had to drop a few scenes to keep things manageable, like the epic wub duel between Vinyl and Neon Lights.
I am compelled to steal the term "funderbuss" for future use.
"Geschlossene Faust" is technically correct, but "Geballte Faust" is infinitely more preferable.
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Correction made and credit given. Many thanks.
I always said Friendship Games needed more fistfights. :V Glad someone finally proved me right. Also, I love all the history between the side characters.
Okay, but what the fuck did Indigo do? D:
At least we know she doesn't want to kill none of them.
Oh shit!
Wait, is she say Cinch is her aunt?!?
Had a feeling he'd show up.
Why did she call him her uncle?
Well done Flash!
Should've stopped talking and do more fighting Dash.
Sweet, nice to know another person who's a fan of Random Encounters!!!
https://m.